It appears to be time...

[lebateleur]

...for my yearly bout of FFX addiction. It usually hits around Christmas, which is why I thought I'd avoided it this year, but no such luck, as it turns out - I am currently up to about six hours of gameplay a day. Which is understandable, considering the fact that it's probably the best movie I've ever clicked my way through. (On a side note, alas for Black Isle Studios and the wonderful Baldur's Gate games. Would that SE had tanked and they had not.)

And now for an embarrassing fandom revelation: I'm one of those horrible people who's never actually made it through to the end. Of course I've got a fairly good idea as to what happens both in X and X-2, thanks to the ever so sublte cover of the Square Enix FFX-2 official strategy guide.


Gee Square Enix, wonder what the ending is going to be...


In my defense, my inability to finish FFX was not due so much to lack of motivation as it was to my former television set, whose crappy screen resolution turned about 80% of the kanji in the in-game tutorials (the booklet being a virtually useless source of information on gameplay) into formless white blobs. Imagine trying to work your way through some routine hack-and-slash, let alone face down a boss character, with your only guidance being something along these lines:

While in the midst of battle ****** may ****** to your ******. Press the circle key in order to ****** the ******'s *******, and the square key to ********. If, during battle, your ******** ********s, use the ******* ******* to ********. ******* is a ******** way to ******** ******. But be careful: it is not possible to ******** once the ******** is used.

My newest television is actually new enough to display the kanji properly. Literacy, I'm finding, does wonders for my gaming ability.

これで以上です。

Comments

[luxetumbra.livejournal.com]

My favorite review of FFX (spoiler!) (http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/11/06). XD I actually liked FFX and its ending quite a bit. Probably the ballsiest ending for a video game ever. Auron's still my favorite character though.

[flemmings.livejournal.com]

That's also the most midnight dark obscure spoiler I've ever come across. How far do you have to play to even have a notion of what it means?

[luxetumbra.livejournal.com]

You know, I linked to that comic because I think it's funny, but Gabe and Tycho took some license with the plot. Game-ruining spoilers: Tidus (at least, this is my understanding, not having played FFX for two years) is just a dream inhabitant of a dream city which is itself collectively being dreamed by all the former inhabitants of that city (who've been turned into spirits). His dad (also a former dream inhabitant of the dream city) does get turned into an evil monster, but I don't really think he can qualify as being a dream in his monster state. He really exists in Yuna's world (the real, non-dream world). You get hints that Tidus may not be a real person in the same way that Yuna and Co. are real early on, but the first time he's actually told that he's a dream is before they fight Sin (Tidus's father) for the first time (probably halfway through?). The plot is far more detailed than this and I'm leaving out huge chunks though (there's a good summary here (http://faqs.ign.com/articles/432/432338p1.html)).

Even given the confusing plot, FFX is a really groundbreaking game as far as RPGs go. Death, religion, the nature of reality - the hero even dies at the end of the game! I still can't bring myself to play FFX-2 because I liked the way FFX ended so much.

[lebateleur.livejournal.com]

If it's what I think it is, yeah. Right up there with pre-AC FFVII or Baldur's Gate II.

Auron I like. I just wish I hadn't been spoiled for him. But my favorite is probably Lulu, followed by Wakka. There's something about cheerful characters in the angst-and-woe world of video games that appeals.

[versinae.livejournal.com]

I get yearly X-2 pangs. It's so stupid, but it's just so damn fun! Argh.

[lebateleur.livejournal.com]

I started X-2, then got unintentionally spoiled for the ending by floor-to-ceiling shelf of said strategy books while walking into a bookstore one day. So I decided not to play any more until I went through and did X properly. Good to know it's fun, though.

[sara-tanaquil.livejournal.com]

with your only guidance being something along these lines

You've just described my entire encounter with the Japanese language. ^_^;;

Have fun!

[lebateleur.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but you do seem more than capable of figuring it out. ^.~

(On an slightly related sidenote, reading the Onmyoji and Ouchou Romanse novels has made me so familiar with (pseudo?)Heian Japanese that it throws me less of a loop than it does the in-game characters!)

[sara-tanaquil.livejournal.com]

Ha. I dream of being able to read the Ouchou novels in some far distant future day. I can't even make much of the manga at this point. ^_^;

There always has to be another goal on the horizon...

[demeter918.livejournal.com]

Mm, FFX. Love it so, so much. Sometimes I wish I could drink it up... but then it would be all gone. *sobs*

I'm on crack.

By the way - it turns out I have to work this Saturday too. We get daikyuu next Friday. BALLSIES. Are you going to the formal next saturday? I'm supposed to go to Tokyo that weekend, but with finances the way they are, I don't think it'll be possible...